


When it's over...

by sksdwrld



Series: Rock the Cradle [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Break Up, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 20:24:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3263222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marshall and Kaylee split.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When it's over...

astar_isborn (24.61.98.251)   
Oct. 16th, 2014 05:36 am (local)  
It was the movement in the doorway that caught his eye and Marshall looked up from the computer to see his wife standing there, clutching a large manila envelope to her chest.

"Hey, Kay..." he smiled. She didn't. She looked miserable. Marshall rolled backwards and then turned toward her. "Lee-lee, what's wrong?"

Kaylee just mugged her chin toward the desk. "What does the World Wide Web have to say about Elena Munez today?"

Marshall's smile faded and he rolled his eyes. "This again?" He reached out and turned his laptop to show her the screen. A Word document was up. "I'm working on that conference for UCLA."

"You are now. That's not what you were doing when you were scrolling through your phone at breakfast. Or lunch. Or while I was putting Matson down for his nap." She uncrossed one arm and stared down at her fingernails. "Maybe if you had been working then, there'd be time for us now."

His eyebrows furrowed and he inched closer, tightening his fingers on the wheels of his chair when she took a step back. "There is time for us now. This is something I can just come back to later. What's wrong? Why are you picking a fight with me?"

"That's your problem, you know?" Kaylee looked down the hallway and shook her head and Marshall could see her eyes fill with tears. "Nobody pulls rank with you over her. None of us are important enough for you. You think we'll all just be waiting here for you whenever you get around to us. Like, you can just come back to us later."

"What are you talking about, Kaylee?" Marshall threw his hands up in the air. "You're acting like I'm cheating on you or something. I'm here ninety percent of the time! When I'm not out with you, I'm working. Elena and the band are working -they have been on tour for years. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've seen her? Jesus Christ, as if I'd sleep with her? As if she'd ever look at me as more than a friend after what I did to her?"

"What you did to her?" Kaylee scoffed. "What the fuck did you do other than tell the fucking truth for once?"

"For once? What the fuck?"

"Yeah, you told a mentally unstable girl in a rock band that you were incapable of loving her anymore because you were too wrapped up in your own shit. We're you ever going to do me the same favor?"

"What are you talking about?" Marshall's head hurt. He felt like they were going in circles again. He pinched the bridge of his nose and gestured to her. "Would you please just come in here so we can talk about this?"

Kaylee shook her head. "I've tried talking about it with you for years and it's always the same thing: denial and dismissal, and I'm just so fucking done. I picked you up when you were at your lowest point. I waded through the shit with you and cleaned you off on the other side and what was my reward? A distant husband more attached to the memory of his fucking teenage crush than he is to his own family. I gave you a son. I thought if anything, that was going to be the thing that severed the ties with her, but no. God forbid.

"I keep myself in shape for you. I make sure I look good for you. But short of dying my hair brown, having a breast reduction and getting a nose ring, I'm not sure how else I can get your attention. And frankly, I don't want it anymore. So here," she held out the envelope to him.

Marshall stretched to take it from her, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. "What is this?" But he knew before she said anything.

"Divorce papers. I wish I could say I was sorry." She turned on her heel and went down the hall, leaving Marshall with the weight of his own conscience.

All he could think about was how they'd made love the night before and she'd known that it was the last time and he didn't even have a clue. He looked helplessly down at the envelope in his lap, ran his fingers through his hair, and then stared in the direction that she'd left, unsure whether or not to go after her.

Ten minutes ago, he would have said he'd do anything for his wife. Maybe that was still true. Maybe for the sake of her happiness, he'd let her go. Marshall took out his phone and looked at the background shot of the two of them holding Matty. He knew he should call his lawyer. He pressed the speed dial instead.

"Dad?..."


End file.
